Contact details

Professor Alexander Milner has been at the University of Birmingham for 15 years, where he was initially responsible for setting up the Environmental Science and Environmental Management degrees. He is now responsible for the Masters degree in River Environmental Management. His research involves river ecosystems in alpine and Arctic environments and has long term studies in Glacier Bay National Park and Denali National Park in Alaska. The study in Glacier Bay represents the longest continual study of stream succession and development within a primary successional framework. Other studies have included how water sources are changing in glacially influenced river systems with climate change and how these changes alter ecological structure and function.

Research

River ecology, particularly community recovery following disturbance and long-term variation in benthic communities.

Ecology of glacier-fed streams

River restoration and enhancement

Hydroecology of glacier-fed river systems in Arctic and alpine regions (French Pyrenees, New Zealand, Lapland and Svalbard)

The principal aims of these studies are (1) to characterize hydroecological patterns along a longitudinal gradient of ameliorating conditions and changing water source contributions downstream from the glacier terminus; (2) to investigate the temporal variability of the hydroecology at event, diurnal, seasonal and inter-annual time scales; (3) to gain further life history information of key macroinvertebrate species found in glacial rivers; and (4) synthesize the information gained into conceptual models applicable to the hydroecology of alpine and Arctic glacier-fed rivers. Past and current PhD students include Lee Brown, Sarah Cadbury, Chris Mellor, Philip Blaen and Kieran Khamis. Funding has been from NERC (studentships), the Leverhulme Trust, EU ATANS and ARCFAC. Collaborators include Dr David Hannah, Dr Lee Brown of the University of Leeds, Dr Emmanuel Castella of the University of Geneva, Dr Charles Pearson of NIWA, Christchurch and Professor Mike Winterbourn of the University of Canterbury.

Colonization and development of new streams in coastal Alaska

Although succession is a key concept in terrestrial ecology, it is less well understood in the context of aquatic environments. Glacier Bay National Park in southeast Alaska provides a superb natural laboratory in which we have been studying the evolution of aquatic ecosystems and predicting how successional processes interact with landscape geomorphology, and ecological factors within other ecosystems. More recently we have been focusing on the how geomorphological complexity increases over time in streams (Dr. Megan Klaar postdoc) and how the diet of juvenile salmonids shifts with differing riparian vegetation characteristics. Collaboration with Dr. Deb Finn (postdoc) to look at genetic variation in colonizing populations. Funding has included NERC, US National Park Service and the Freshwater Biological Association. Past and current PhD students include Elizabeth Flory, Kieran Monaghan, Ian Phillips, Amanda Veal, Mike McDermott and Megan Klaar, Ed Malone and Svein Sonderland. Collaborators include Dr Anne Robertson (Roehampton University), Dr Ian Maddock (University of Worcester) and Dr Lee Brown (University of Leeds).

Long term variation in benthic communities/upwelling channels of braided floodplains in Denali National Park, interior Alaska

This is a study of long term natural variation in a number of streams of Denali National Park from 1994 to relate landscape factors including climate and look at persistence and stability of macroinvertebrate communities. We are also looking at the hydroecology of upwelling channels on a large braided glacial floodplain. Funding includes USGS US NPS and collaborators include Dr Chris Bradley and members of the Denali National Park Service. Past and current research students include Sarah Conn, James Ray and Jill Crossman.

Several research projects within the Hydroecology Research Group, include the recovery of benthic communities from drought disturbance in experimental channels and algal-herbivore interactions with Dr Mark Ledger. Past and present PhD students include Rebecca Harris and Helen Vincent.

Other activities

Member of the European Science Foundation peer review panel (2006 -)

Member of the International Profiles Committee and Election/Place Committee of the North American Benthological Society.

Finn, D., K. Khamis and A.M. Milner (2012) Biodiversity trends expected in streams following loss of small glaciers in the French Pyrenees. Global Ecology and Biogeography DOI: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.

Crossman, J., C. Bradley, J.N.W. David and A.M. Milner (2012) Use of remote sensing to identify areas of groundwater upwelling on active glacial floodplains; their frequency, extent and significance on a landscape scale. Remote Sensing of the Environment. 123: 116-126.

Klaar, M.J., Maddock, I, and A.M. Milner (2010) The development of hydraulic and geomorphic complexity in newly formed streams in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. River Research and Applications 25: 1331-1338.

Monaghan, K.A. and A.M. Milner (2009) The effect of anadromous salmon redd construction on macroinvertebrate communities in a recently formed stream in coastal Alaska. Journal of the North American Benthological Association. 28:153-166

Milner, A.M., A.E. Robertson, K. Monaghan, A.J. Veal and E.A. Flory. (2008) Colonization and development of a stream community over 28 years; Wolf Point Creek in Glacier Bay, Alaska. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 6, 413-419

Milner, A.M. and Gloyne-Phillips, I.T. (2005) The role of riparian vegetation and woody debris in the development of macroinvertebrate assemblages in streams. Rivers: Research and Application 21:403-420.

Milner, A.M. and Piorkowski, R.J.. (2004) Macroinvertebrate community assemblages in streams of interior Alaska following placer mining. River Research and Applications 20:719-731